Braving the World: Eleanor & Park

Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
My Rating: 4.5/5

"Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under." - Goodreads

I read this novel over the course of one weekend, at first one or two chapters at the time, and then just desperately gulping it all down. For me, this novel definitely picks up speed and strength as the story progresses, and then you truly see and feel and believe the love between Eleanor and Park, and how hard life is pulling them apart.

This story is about love, but at the same time about so much more. It's about life in the 80s, about adolescence, school, sibling rivalry, domestic violence, prejudices, and poverty. Written alternately from Eleanor and Park's points of view, this romantic, tender, but also very raw and true-to-life story slowly sucks you in, grabs you, pulls you under, until you just can't stop reading and can't stop feeling and can't stop yearning for more.

One thing about this book that touched me the most is its language. Simply beautiful, borderline poetic (I know that's technically not right but just bear with me please). Sentences like "There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises," and "'I don't like you,' he said. 'I need you,'" and "Park's face, asleep, was a brand-new kind of beautiful. Sunshine-trapped-in-amber skin." The descriptions are so evocative that you can't help but picture each character in your head and feel them come to life.

Another thing that I really loved (and also made me tear up) is the ending. I won't spoil it for y'all, but let's just say it's pretty indicative of how life gets into the way of first loves. The ending will definitely remind you of your own very first romance, and all the bittersweet things you felt, all the awkward and shy moments shared, all the distant memories refreshed.

By all means, read this book.

xx

Vanessa :]

The Wind Rises (2014): dreaming of the sky

Title: The Wind Rises

Language: Japanese

Year: 2014

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

My Rating: 5/5 (would give it a 6/5 if I could!)

This last film of Miyazaki is based on a real figure, Jirohorikoshi, the Japanese aeronautical engineer who designed the Mitsubishi Zero, Japan's predominant fighter plane during WWII. It was used in many air assaults in China, and also the Pearl Harbor attack.

Despite the film's sensitive subject politically and historically speaking, Miyazaki expresses through the film an overwhelming sense of beauty and pride. 

Instead of telling the story of Japan's attempts at plane construction through a historicizing narrative, Miyazaki made the magical choice of adopting a very personal point of view from Jiro the engineer. From Jiro's narrative, Miyazaki tells not only the stories of a plane, but of a young boy's desire to fly, to follow his dream, and to make his country a better and stronger one. The Japanese society at the time of the story was a turbulent one, one filled with social malcontent, natural disasters, and political and economic unrest. Mayazaki unreservedly shows this dark side of his society's past, which gained my sympathy. On the other hand, he also shows the breathtaking beauty and simplicity of life during that epoch: the picturesque countryside with its green grasslands, ripening fields, and traditional Japanese architecture, accompanied by the evocative music composed by Joe Hisaishi, every minute of the beauty is exuberant with a national pride and patriotism that is natural, modest, yet very much heartfelt. 

The film is also extremely touching in that it tells a tragically beautiful love story that is tangled with the nation's destiny. The love in the story is depicted with such simplicity yet is extremely convincing, in that it is also expressed with a kind of utmost sincerity that makes us wonder if we can still find love like this in today's society. Just like the love element is a personal aspect of the story, so is Jiro's own dreams of designing beautiful airplanes. In the film, he explains that he never meant for them to go to war, and he is at a loss when he realizes that none of his beautiful designs came back after taking off. 

This film is a must-see, it will move you in a way that you have long forgotten existed. Your heart will simply go out to the characters. For this reason, I was very sad to learn that the movie is censored in China because of its sensitive subject, however this film is not about politics. It is maybe somewhat about war in that it shows war's inhumanity and ugliness, and it is above all else about a brave quest for dreams and a yearning for beauty.

Le vent se lève... il faut tenter de vivre!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: top 10 movies to see this Valentine's Day Part III

Today I am going to finish the whole list of 10 movies to see with your significant other or some friends! You can find the first two segments of the list here and here.

7. Amélie (2001)

This is hands down the best French movie I have ever seen, and let me just say I have seen dozens of French movies. Lighthearted yet full of life lessons, Amélie will not disappoint for a Valentine's Day movie date.

8. Love Actually (2003)

Pretty classic rom-com that tells the story of eight different couples. I don't know why, but I love seeing how many different stories evolve and intermingle. Oh, and did I mention Hugh Grant is in it?

9. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Need I say more? Classic, classic tale that will make you cry and warm your heart. Watch this and see how one radio call changes two people's lives forever.

10. Mamma Mia! (2008)

What is better than a musical in a movie? This is more for hanging out with your friends, but if you got a boyfriend/girlfriend who loves to sing and dance, this can work for couples too! I always dance to the Dancing Queen scene anyway (shamefully walks away).

I hope you all have a wonderful, sweet, and cozy Valentine's Day!

xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 movies to see this Valentine's Day Part II

Picking up where we left off last week (Part I), I am here today to introduce three more of my favorite movies that I think are wonderful for Valentine's Day. Today's movies share one thing in common - they are all animation movies! Some may say animation movies are specifically for children, but I guarantee you that is totally not the case if you have seen these three!

4. Frozen (2013)

I'm sure everyone has already more or less heard of the hype about this movie. At first I was like, Disney movie, princesses and all? Come on, people, go see something more original. BUT! After I finally went to see the movie with my boyfriend two weeks ago, it blew my mind! It is hugely hilarious, beautiful, and the songs are so catchy everyone in my dorm is playing them on repeat!

5. Despicable Me 2 (2013)

If you ask me what is the funniest animation movie, I would definitely tell you Despicable Me without hesitating. But after seeing this sequel to the first movie, I realized I was wrong - Despicable Me 2 is even FUNNIER! As if that's even possible! I mean, who doesn't like to see a former-villain falling in love with a villain-busting crazy woman, not to mention the three cutest girls in the world, and a bunch of yellow minions dance around and speak gibberish English?

6. Up (2009)

Let me tell you something: you can never go wrong with Pixar and Disney. Up is a movie with a perfect combination of naiveté, humor, beautiful animation, and.... unexpected romance!

xx

Vanessa :]

"For ever and one day": Just One Day

Title: Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

My Rating: 5/5

"A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines." - Goodreads

I haven't given a book such a high rating since I can't even remember (okay maybe I do. I think it was The Fault In Our Stars, which moved me to tears no less than ten times). Just One Day, though, totally blew my mind.

Perfecto.

When I first started the book on a five-hour train ride to visit a friend, I didn't set the bars high. Some decent romance would do, I thought. Never did I expect to be so out of breath, moved, and yearning for more when I finished by the time the train pulled into the station.

It's funny, really, because the most appropriate place to read this book is probably when you're traveling, because a large part - or I should say the most important part - of the story happens on trains, planes, different places on a journey. Being on a train filled me with the kind of wanderlust that was just right for this book.

Allyson/Lulu and Willem's quick-sparked romance surprised and captivated me. Personally I'm never a big fan of insta-love! in YA books. But this one, oh how this one makes me swoon! Everything seems to click between the two of them, and the chemistry is undeniable, yet at the same time full of guessing games. In retrospect I think the time they spend with each other - one day - is what makes this love so believable. This one day that was given to them is full of uncertainty, curiosity, unasked questions and imperceptible answers, and that is why they feel brave enough to fall for each other, or more accurately, the image of each other. This kind of love cannot stand the test of time, but is enough to make Allyson, and the reader, think deeply about love. 

In Allyson's college course Shakespeare Out Loud, the students perform As You Like It. One of the lines struck me the most. It's in Act IV, when a jealous and desperate Rosalind asks the confused and smitten Orlando if he'd take Rosalind as his love. Then comes Orlando's reply, "For ever and one day."

Can one day be forever? Can forever be condensed into just one day?

The answer is, in my opinion, both yes and no. No because no promise could and should be made beyond the one day if all you ever came for is adventure; yes because the amazing things that can happen in one day will last a lifetime.

Lastly, a song that I think goes with the book quite well.

xx

Vanessa :]

an unforgettable city: Paris, Je t'aime (2006)

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Title: Paris, je t'aime
Language: French
Year: 2006
Directors: Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin, and 20 more credits
My Rating: 4.7/5

"Through the neighborhoods of Paris, love is veiled, revealed, imitated, sucked dry, reinvented and awakened." -imdb

After seeing this film last night, I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. The opening film at Cannes International Film Festival of 2006, this 20-segment film portrays the many facets of Paris that one least knows and/or expects. Although the plot summary above seems broad and over-generalizing, I assure you that it is not. It is accurately the impression that the film will leave you.

Each of the 20 segments in this film, directed by a different director, lasts 5 minutes and can be a standalone by itself. In one way or another, each segment tells a love story, no matter heartwarming, saddening, thoughtful, or bizarre: one talks about a young boy discovering the right way to treat a girl on the bank of the Seine; one deals with a grieving mother's recovery from having lost her son; one tells the story of a blind boy falling in and out of love with a foreign actress; one shows the audience the complicated breakup scene of an old couple... 

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Through these 20 mini films that together build the complex, interweaving structure that is not only the film Paris, Je t'aime but also the city Paris and its people, I constantly felt the enchantment as well as the cruelty of the society that we live in. The last segment of the end of the film sums it up for us really well: "Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me." (source)

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In the last few minutes of the movie, the camera shifts from one protagonist's perspective to another, and through their eyes we realize that their lives, however unrelated as they seem, are ultimately connected to each other. And this is the wonder of the our lives, of the world we live in.

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xx
Vanessa :]

Music Monday: poignant french song time

Last night I saw a wonderful film called Paris, Je t'aime (you can find my review here). I found two songs in the film extremely moving: Paris Je t'aime by Elisabeth Anais and La Meme Histoire by Feist. Listen to the two songs, and you'll find yourself lost in nostalgia, dreams, and thoughts. Beautiful tunes that remind me of the ever-changing face of Paris, of fate, and of love and life.

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http://lyricstranslate.comThe Same Story
This link between us
This elusive thing?
Where are those fates, which are tied
To make us inseparable, going?
Over time
Wherever the wind goes...
Our desires, our loves
We leave without knowing
We're still
In the same story...
This thing which separates us,
Which, by chance, brings us together?
Why so many one-way tickets, so many departures
In this unending circle?
Over time
Wherever the wind goes...thus...
Our desires, our loves
We leave without knowing
We're still
In the same story...
The same story...
Our desires, our loves
We leave without knowing
We're still
In the same story...
The same story...

But what is

We move forward

We live day by day

But what is

We move forward

We live day by day

We live day by day

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xx

Vanessa :]

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Fiction Fall 2013

After watching so too many TV shows that aren't even that well executed, I decided that it's time to jump back into the arms of my good old friend who never disappoints - books! Here's a list of 10 fictional novels that I can't can't can't wait that I came up for myself, I thought I'd share it with you guys!

*there is no specific order to the list.

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1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
The third and final installation in the quick-paced, adrenaline-inducing Divergent series = huuuuuge anticipation

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2. The Bones of Paris by Laura R. King
Okay, just the name gives me chills. I've always automatically associated Paris with romance, love, lightheartedness, and all things good and sweet. But bones? No-o-o-o-o. So I'm really curious about what story this "novel of suspense"entails, especially because, oh la la, it takes place in the sensual Jazz Age.

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3. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
Yet another mystery/thriller set in my favorite time of the year (for reading mystery/thriller and otherwise): Christmastime! Can't wait to feel the clash between the tension and the festiveness.

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4. The Secret Keeper by Beverly Lewis
This story is about a girl abandoning modern life to pursue another living in the Amish community. I've never read any book about the Amish people and their ways of living, so I think this should be really interesting!

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5. Paradise City by Joe Gunther
Gotta love this misty & mysterious cover. Another mystery/thriller about a thief stealing eccentric items across town.

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6. United We Spy by Ally Carter
An intense spy story in a high school setting...ooh...

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7. The Hero by Robyn Carr
Yet another hauntingly beautiful cover. A story about falling in love when you least expect it, and how this seemingly romantic act can also require courage and determination.

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8. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
A novel by Stephen King and a sequel to The Shining - need I say more?

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9. The Returned by Jason Mott
Seriously, what is up with these just breathtaking covers? They just make me want to read the book so much more! This story has a very captivating premise: After having lost their eight-year-old son many many years ago, the parents find their son on their rooftop one morning, very much alive, still eight years old. He has "returned."

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10. The Longest Ride by Nicolas Sparks
A Nicolas Sparks book is always an enjoyable read (and most likely a tear-jerking one.)

xx
Vanessa :]